Improvement in seal-bolts



uffi. HOPKINS. Seal-Bolt.

No. 206,238. Pateniedvluly 23,1878.

N97. i792. .1233. hy#

@sans tllAllLllS ll. HOPKINS, OF

ATi-Zilli LYNDONVILJE, VERMONT.

Spcvilirni ion forming; part of vLetti-rs Patent No. 201E3NlamdJnlyglulTS application file-1i Y June 1'?, 1578.

To allfzchom it lmay concern:

Be it known that l, CimnLns ll. lloriuus,

of Lyndonyille, in the county of Caledonia.

and Sta-te of Vcrmonhhave invented ay new and useful Improvement-in Sealllolts forllailroadfCars, Mail Bags, and analogous uses;

` and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, referencebein'g had tothe accompanying dran;

ings, forming part oi this specitication, in

Which- Figure l is an elevation of the upper partof my seal-bolt. and a section of the lower part,

containing the sealing device. Y Fig.2 is asimi-v tain Constructions, combinations, and arra-n gements of parts, hereinafter fully described and specitcally claimed, whereby a seal-boitespecially adapted for locking and sealing` rail, road-cars, mail-bags, d'0., against picking -is produced.

In the accompanying drawings, Arepre sents the body .of aseal-bolt, which is provided with an 'oblong transverso'm'ortise, a', and an axialA bore, o1' a?. The lower fia-rt, a, of the bore is'proi'idedwitli a plug, te, as shown, by which theend ot' the bolt is o iosed after all the parts constituting the bolt'piioper, A, are in place.

Into the bore al o? a spring,A b, andabolt B, are inserteth This springbolt has a tenoii, b', at its lower end, which projects-below tlie'portion a2 of the bore 'intotthe mortised portion of the bore a distancegabout equal tohalt' theU length of the' inortiseo; Sand it also liasa depression, b?, upon which the ab end surface ot' a stop pin o r checlnB, bears, said check being inserted in the seal-bolt A far enough to pass beyond shoulders at; the top and bottom 'of said depression b2. By' this construction the bolt B and its tenon bl are prevented from The nature of my invention consists in cer' ofthe bore al a2.

y Into the-mortise a 1a sealing-pin, C, ofeithei" vsoit metal, such as lead, or of hard metal', is

inserted. I prefer to employ a soft-metal sealpin, andto guard against its' destruction by n hard-metal portieri inserted through it, as heroina-fter described. 'ihissealing-piu is provided with a mortise, c, for receiving thehtenon bl and an inclinedv surface, c-, is formed n it for' pnshingfup the bolt B While the'sealing-pin is being inserted into the inortise oofbolt A. t The sealing-pin C is provided witlfiafheall,

e, which abats against the` sealboltlit. above "andbelow the inortise fe, and thereby securely closes it against the insertionfoff4 picking *in* 'struinents on 'either the upper or lower side of the sealing-pin. .l

At the junction with the headc2 the sealingpin C is. provided withl two-sido grooves 'orme-ks, c3, which weaken the" connectioiijbeltiveeuthe body oi' the sealng-pin and its head c?, and thus facilitate the breaking off jot' the head vafter the sealingpin has'per'fomned its'` scrvice....

j he mortise c which is lprovided in thel seal, pin Gis in form of a three-sided cavity, with an inclined bottom, which rises gradually toward the head c2, as shown in Fig. l, inorder to facilitate the withdrawal of the pin` (l from the mortise e after the head c2 is broken oft'. The tenen ofthe bolt B, in the act ot' -ivithdrawing the pin" C, readily slides up on the inclined bottoni c* and allows the seal-pin C to pass out on 'the s de opposite that where it Was inserted.

The front side of the' mortiso c is,`like the side walls thereoyertical, and abnts against tno Ycltical-front s ideet the tenen, and' vthus makes the'withdrawal of the sealing-pin U baelmard impossible, and hence the head c2 must be'brolien off from the body of the pin toeii'ect its withdrawal. J A

Y Inorder to provide against gradual Workin g or grinding downof Vthe frolt side of the niortise c ipon the tenen bin'cases Where the sealing-pin is made of soft metal, such as" fl sodass lead, and also to resist the passage of a cutting-tool, which the soft metal would not do in an attempt to violate the sealpin at its front end,y a piece ot' hard metal, c5, is inserted through the seal-pin at the front side of the inoitise, which piece of metal abuts against the tenen b.

. It' the tenon b1 was ofthe saine thickness as the sealing-pin C it would be easy fora burglar to force athin pickingtool between the side of the sealing-pin andthe side wall of the mortise a and litt ythe bolt B suiicient-ly to allow pin C to be withdrawn without breaking oit' the the head e2 or without leaving otherindications or marks ot' violence made during the work of opening` and robbing the ear; but by inserting a thin tenon'into the body oi' the pin U, as in my invention, the tenen cannot be reached and .the bolt B thereby lifted by any picking-tool, and hence the pinG cannot be withdrawn until it has been so dama-ged as to give rise to suspicion from its appearance that the car has been robbed.

prefer to make the seal-pin C of soft metal, because any attempt to violate or pick the seal-bolt will cause the seal-pin to become indented or marred, and so expose such attempt.

I have shown, in Figs. 8 and 9, two modified constructions vot' my spring-bolt B and check B', wherein the check is placed across the face et' the depression b2 in the first case and through a longitudinal slot, 1f, in the second ease. Both modiiications serve the same purpose asy the construction shown in Fig. 1,

and are the equivalents ot 'the same.

Operation: The seal-bolt A is inserted into the staple which holds the hasp or lia-sps ot' the car-door, and the sealing-pin C is inserted into the mortise av of the bolt A. During this act the inclined surface c1 moves under and lifts the tenen bl and bolt B gradually to the full height 'of the width of the body ot' the sealingpin, over the top of which it passes until it arrives at the mortise c, into which it drops as soon as the head e2 of the sealing-pin C f touches the upper and lower edges of the mortise a. The car, by this means, is locked and sealed, and remains so until its reaches its destination, when the head c2 ofthe pin C is broken ott' atthe nicks c3, thus enabling the operator to pull out the sealing-pin on the side of the bolt A opposite to that where it was inserted,

the tenon b, during the act of withdrawing the pin, slidingnpon the inclined bottom c* ofthe mortise c and over the broken end ot` the sca-lpin C. l

Having described my invention, what l'elailn as new therein is 1. A seal-bolt, A, provided with a springbolt, B, the lower end of which has a tenen, b, narrower than the thickness et' the' body oi' the sealing-pin,in combination with a sealingpin, C, provided with a mortise, fx, constructed with a tlat end and side walls and an i11- clined bottom, whereby lateral and end access to the end of the 4seal'pin by picking-instruments is prevented, while at the same time the pin cannot be withdrawn backward, subst-an.

tially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination ofthe seal-bolt A, having a mortise, a, the spring-bolt B, having the tenon b1, and the scaling-pin C, having the mortise c et, with flat end and side walls and an inclined bottom and a head, c", substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The seal-bolt A, provided with a springbolt, B, which is prevented from turning, and is limited in its throw with respect to t-he mortise e, in combination with a seal-pin, C', having the inclined surface c1 and the mortisc c, with inclined bottom and a flaten'd and side walls, substantially as and for the purpose de scribed.

4. A soft-metal seal-pin, C, provided with a. hard-metal wearing and protection port-ion, c5, substantially as and for the purpose described CHARLES H. HOPKINS.

YVitncsses:

J. I. HUBBARD, J. B. LONERGAN. 

